Hi, I'm passing through and beginning to realize just now what an interesting place this is. I'm currently on the west coast and looking forward to the next Mystery Writers conference at Book Passages in Marin.

If anyone is interested in my one existing novel it's called HOMICIDAL INTENT and it was published as a paperback original by Dell in 2001. By Vivian Chern (Didn't use the Shnaidman for that - long story - but I may use it now - what do you guys think?)

Welcome back!

I was looking forward to getting Homicidal Intent autographed by you at the 2001 Bouchercon in DC, but you were a no-show (though, to be fair, so were about a third of the registrants).

Since you've left, I've left my old job and gotten a new one with the AMTRAK Police (I'm already a sergeant), I've had my first book published (a collection of true crime articles called Just the Facts), I've won a Spur Award from the Western Writers of America (Best Short Non-Fiction for one of the chapters in JTF), and my first novel (still-unpublished), was a finalist in the CWA's Debut Dagger competition. And I'm now the police technical advisor for the Dick Tracy comic strip, and (in April) will start doing their "Crime Stopper Textbook" feature for the Sunday strip.

Hi, I'm Amber. I'm about halfway through my suspense novel. I've written several other novels in other genres before I decided to try my hand at a mystery/suspense. I'm excited because I feel like I've finally found my genre. The first five pages of this ms and the synopsis won first place in the Winter WMX Grabber competition judged by Tom Colgan of Penguin Books. So now I'm just trying to finish it and make it the best I can. That's why I'm here.....

I'm Lillian and I hail from South Australia. I write romantic comedies and romantic suspense. My first romantic suspense novel is due for publication with Siren BookStrand in June. I seem to have cracked the e-publishing market but I would dearly love to step up to the big leagues and get an agent and a NY publisher. I have a lot to learn and a long way to go.

Well, I am probably well out of my element here, but I had a wild hair today and thought up what I think is a great novel plot. Long story short, I got the idea from reading the latest chapter of a "Castle" fan fiction story today and within 3 minutes I went from "how the author could have added a twist" to "OMG! I think I just laid out a brand new novel!".

Now, I have to:

Create brand new characters

Figure out the WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHY, and HOW

Map out the chapters

And then write 2 novels. Yes, 2. That's part of the plot *wiggles eyebrows*

Only problem is, while I have read my fair share of murder mysteries, I'm deep deep 'green' when it comes to writing them. My Dad is a retired police officer (not homicide detective), so I can gleen some technical stuffs from him. Otherwise, I foresee myself doing a LOT of research!

Just a warning, I will not be posting often here (at least in the beginning) because I will be reading a lot of posts here, doing at least the first 3 of my above to-do list, and do my 'day-job' (small business owner - build and host websites and SEO services ... number of employees = ME!).

May I ask - how do you all ask questions and yet provide enough background of your story without actually giving away your story (that could potentially be plagiarized)? Not that I am being paranoid about that aspect. But I do want to know how much I should detail when asking questions in the future.

Any other tips/tricks for a budding murder mystery writer? Anything I need to do at the very beginning of the process so as to avoid headaches later on?

And how the heck do you create new characters when all you have in your head are previously created characters (from books and TV shows)?

Thank you for providing this forum and I hope to learn much from you all!

Welcome, Barb. I think a lot of your questions will be answered just by searching this forum and finding out how things are done. There is a lot of talent here. I am an unpublished writer with several works in progress (WIPs). Remember we all started from scratch. I've never given a thought about plagiarism on this site given the quality of the people I have interacted with. But if you are concerned, be aware that the 'Critique Area' is only visible to signed in members if you need to keep something sorta private. Also many members are available for critiques via a personal message or email. Mostly, you can ask a question in a generic way and get some great feedback.

Now that you have an idea, the rest of the story will come out of your mind. (My wife says I'm out of my mind a lot.) So just let yourself go wild and create characters you think will be interesting. By the time you are well into the story, you might not even recognize your original idea it will have changed so much.

After browsing the site for a while, I've finally found time to join in the conversations. I've been writing mystery and suspense stories for many years and have just put together a collection of both published and unpublished tales called Down a Crooked Road, by Ty Treadwell. I'm looking forward to comparing notes on both the short story market and the book market for mysteries right now.

My name is Jed Power. Years ago, after becoming discouraged with the endless rounds my crime novels made to publishers & agents, I put them aside in disgust. Now the bug has bitten again and I've dusted off all 5 and am doing re-writes (1 needs almost nothing; most a lot). I also have had a few short stories published. I collect vintage Noir/Hardboiled paperbacks which in part includes a near complete collection of Dan Marlowe who was my Dad's best friend. Hope to have some fun & pick up on all the changes that have come about since I dropped my pen. Thanks. Jed

Right now I am working on a cozy and plodding my way through some of the greats. I am fairly sure that the contents of my bookcase makes my roommates nervous. My latest purchase, The Invention of Murder by Judith Flanders.

I guess I joined for some help working my way through the various intricacies of my stories.

Kiiti.

Logged

"In my opinion, a girl is entitled to attempt desperate measures to get her man."